There are many elements in a website design project. Elements may include the overall strategy, the site map, site contents, design, coding, and more. It's tempting to keep tinkering and adjusting the various components until they're perfect. But you should remember that while you're editing the website, it stays on your designer's temporary server for testing or on your desktop — and never gets launched.
There are many elements in a website design project. Elements may include the overall strategy, the site map, site contents, design, coding, search engine optimization (SEO) and additional functionality. With so much to track, it's easy to let the website design project roll on forever. It's tempting to keep tinkering and adjusting the various components until they're perfect. But you should remember that while you're editing the website, it stays on your designer's temporary server for testing or on your desktop - and never gets launched.
This is counter-productive.
While it's important to launch a website that looks professional, it's also perfectly OK to launch a site that isn't 100% finished.
Launching a site that's not perfect can actually help you! Once your site is live, you'll be able to:
- Get Feedback: While you're working on your website, you're working in a vacuum. Even if you're working with a designer and testing it out with some of your clients, you'll only be getting input from a few people. Once you launch it you'll be able to ask all of your visitors for their impressions and feedback on your site. Improving it with this extra help will really speed up the process and the site will be improved much more quickly.
- Get Found: The faster you can launch something, the better. The search engines won't find you the instant your site is up! If you launch it you'll get more time to work on the site while giving the search engines more time to find you. Once the search engines find your site they will start referring business your way. And that's the whole reason you're creating this website, right?
- Refer Clients To It: Imagine if you could spend less time trying to make sales. One way is to refer clients and prospects to your website. If you put your 80% complete website online, you can send those inquiries to your site instead of spending time answering questions. And that time will be freed up for you to work on your website. It winds up being a win-win for everyone. So, if you have a website that's partially done, get it up online now!
Go ahead and launch the site, even if there are whole pieces missing. Say you still have to finish spicing up the copy, or have a few more pages to add. Even if you haven't hooked up your newsletter subscription or your shopping cart yet, just go ahead and launch the site - it will help you bring in more business while you're finishing your website project. A website that's out in the world does you a lot more good than a website that's sitting on your computer, stuck in development.
The 4 Jobs of Your Logo Font
Many entrepreneurs think that the font for their business name is like a trophy wife—just there to look pretty, all perfect hair and manicure. So, they try to find a font that looks cool, often without looking at any of the features of the font itself. But, the font in your logo is a busy little element. It works 4 jobs!
Designing Temporary Materials to Get You Through A Branding Emergency
What if your urgent problem is that you have no marketing materials for your business? Having something to market your business with is better than nothing. In some cases, it might even help you get to the next step in your brand.
The Three-Part Harmony in Your Logo
Just as a harmonized song is made up of a set of three notes, every small business's logo should be made up of three pieces of art: the icon, the font, and the color palette. These three pieces all work together, singing the same basic song, to tell your business's story. In your logo, each of them gives you an opportunity to build in meaning and symbolism.
